CONSTRUCTING THE 1899 BUILDING: The 1899 Legislature appropriated $15,000 to Marshall College for a new building, which was then called the “Annex.” The architect was Harrison Albright of Charleston, whose architectural rendering shows the appearance of the finished building, which joined the 1870 and 1896 buildings together. A. F. Withrow & Company of Charleston won the contract with a bid of $15,180. Construction began in June 1899. The contractor not only built the Annex, he also worked on the 1870 building, changing the south side to a bow front and entirely remodeling the interior, practically making it a “new” building. The building was probably completed by the following October.
APPEARANCE OF THE 1899 BUILDING: The 1899 building (it seems that the “Annex” name did not endure beyond the construction phase) followed the pattern of the existing buildings: three story red brick with a heavy stone foundation enclosing a full basement. The exterior basement walls were nearly two feet thick, while the brick walls were half that thickness. The building was nestled between the remodeled 1870 building and the 1896 building. It was constructed to be parallel to the 1870 building, making it offset by three feet to the 1896 building (which was built parallel to 16th Street).
The entrance to the building was by a flight of broad stone steps on its north side, leading to a large arched doorway. In the curve of the archway appears the words “Marshall College” worked within a scroll, surrounded by a garland, indicating that this was the “official” entrance to the college building. The only door on the south side was in the basement stonework, which opened into the coal bin for the furnace room.
THE INTERIOR OF THE 1899 BUILDING: Between 1899 and 1906 the academic buildings of Marshall College (1896/1899 Buildings and part of the remodeled 1870 Building) contained the following rooms: the Principal’s Office and Reception Room; a Faculty Room; ten Recitation Rooms (now called Classrooms); a Laboratory; a Music Room; an Art Studio; the Study Hall; the Commencement Hall (which also served as the Chapel); the Circulating Library and Reading Room; the [Federal] Documentary Library; the Office of the Principal of the Business Department; two Business Rooms; a Typewriter Room; the Virginia Literary Society Room; the Erosophian Literary Society Room; the Young Women’s Christian Association Hall; the College Bookstore; and a number of cloakrooms, bathrooms, and storage rooms. There was also a telephone room, but this appears to have been in the ladies dormitory, College Hall.
The building was heated by steam from three coal fired furnaces and was lighted by gaslights.
It is possible to identify the location of some of these rooms in the remodeled 1870 Building and 1899 Building:
BASEMENT – Unfinished and not excavated.
FIRST FLOOR – A foyer on the north side; a central hallway, running east and west the entire length of the building; Circulating Library and Reading Room; YMCA Hall; Study Hall (divided in 1902 into three rooms for the Normal School); and classrooms.
SECOND FLOOR – Bedrooms (part of College Hall); Erosophian Literary Society Hall; Lecture Room; and classrooms.
THIRD FLOOR – Bedrooms (part of College Hall); Virginian Literary Society Hall; Lecture Room; and classrooms.
In 1902 the Study Hall was divided into three rooms for the Model School, making most of the first floor devoted to that program.
CURRENT 1899 BUILDING: The south side of the 1899 building is little changed from its original construction.